Race Report Thread

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jules21
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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jules21 » Tue May 10, 2016 4:21 pm

A grade would have been a very different matter. I try not to think about how much A grade would hurt. there were 3 guys who got away in the end in A grade (from 5 originally?) and they are pretty high level racers. 1 is NRS, but he came 3rd! although I think he may have ridden out. kudos to anyone who lines up in A grade for a beating.

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby ft_critical » Tue May 10, 2016 9:37 pm

So I road Elite at West Head. I am not Elite obviously, but I did want to see what it was like. Well, I lasted nearly three of four laps and I was thinking of just comparing it to the previous A Grade race I did at West Head. This was going to be an in-depth technical comparison, watt by watt, beat-per-minute by beat-per-minute, kilometre-per-hour by kilometre-per-hour … Except that this plan didn’t work because the comparison was very straight forward. Every ~21km lap Elite was 1kmh faster. They were not faster in every section, it depended on the flow of the race at the time, but broadly, ~2kmh faster up the climbs and when driving hard on the flats or slight downhills 5 to 7kmh faster. I would say it felt faster, particularly when driving on the flat sections – it was exhilaratingly fast!

Probably the only thing that was markedly different was getting dropped. For me this was on a short climb and my legs just didn’t have the power. The difference was that people on the sides of the roads wept, some threw garlands onto the road, old men smiled kindly at me, ladies waved the hands of the babies they held at me…

Oh no, that didn’t happen. I can report it is no different getting dropped in any grade :lol:

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jules21 » Tue May 10, 2016 9:55 pm

yeah you need to win for that stuff to happen :)

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby queequeg » Sun May 15, 2016 11:52 am

trek52 wrote:Odd Spoke Sat 7th A grade
I have got to say that if we are advised a race is 70 min and a lap I cant figure out how it ends up 80 min plus a lap !!
For 1:24
Average power 291w
Normalised P 362w

So yeah it was hard !!
I've been out all week with man-flu, and when I look back it was clear that on Sat I was already well on the way to being sick.
Lap 1 up the back straight my legs were feeling very heavy, and I normally breeze over that back straight. I thought it might have just been the cold, but a few laps in and I was feeling even worse. Definitely not my usual self, because in racing terms the mind was willing and the initial break was kept within striking distance.
I liked the idea of letting Naz just dangle out there on his own for a while, but he's so strong that he was probably having a chuckle to himself about all the old guys back in the bunch.

Anyway, resigned to the fact that something just wasn't right, I did what I could to just hang on. I was watching the clock closely as a result, and 70 min came and went...as did 75, then finally around 80 we got the bell. I did well to stay with the bunch on the last lap as they gave a spirited but ultimately pointless chase to the break. We got close enough 2 or 3 laps out for Nash to jump across, and I so dearly would have loved to have gone with him, as it was on the back straight. it wasn't to be, so I just rolled through the finish happy to be upright.
My HRM told the story though. I was boxed, and in the absence of any actual power data, Strava was giving me an avg of 356W. While I take that with a grain of salt, it still hurt and I ended up catching a lift back to the Etta for breakfast, before slowly trundling back up Glenhaven Rd to get home.

Sunday...fears confirmed...man-flu, and I've been off the bike since the race!
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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jules21 » Mon May 16, 2016 9:47 am

Tour of South West, Masters C.

I naively harbored ambitions of winning this race. I've been going better on the TT bike and thought "why not?" top 5 was the goal.

stage 1 was a 12.7km ITT on the windy Wangoom circuit. pretty flat, a couple of small bumps and the weather was unusually warm and sunny. May in Warrnambool is more likely to be grey and rainy. I took off and immediately started to make ground on my 20 sec. man. I caught him about half way in, as he caught another rider. I felt good. I caught another rider on a roadie with no aero gear on the fast downhill section. he duly powered back past me on the small incline, before it flattened out again and I said sayanora on my full TT rig.

I could feel someone behind me and thought "that roadie is cranking" but as it turned out, it was my 20 second man passing me. OK, no win today. mind you, he ended up taking 4th on the stage and 2nd overall at +0 secs. I got 9th, dropping 46 seconds and averaging 40 km/h. a bit disappointed. it's hard to gauge the standard as the course is windy - I averaged 30 km/h in my first attempt here a few years back!

a couple of hours later we were back for the 50km road race. I always forget that this is harder than a flat, 50km race sounds. reason - the wind, again. 3 laps of the 17km course and it's pretty easy - except across the northern side, when you get put in the gutter and have to hang on for dear life. lap 1 was not too bad, then someone hit it on lap 2 and it was balls to the wall. I hung on, then someone hit it again and this time the elastic started snapping - not me, but others.

like in real estate, racing in cross-winds is location, location, location! unfortunately I was further back than was ideal when riders started dropping wheels ahead of me. I had good legs, but I had to use them to bridge a few gaps that opened up ahead of me. it's a strange feeling seeing a wheel 15m ahead of you and taking 2 minutes of max. effort to bridge it - mm by mm. when we turned the corner, the field had splintered and we were in the lead group of about 12.

the bell lap and we hit the cross-winds for the last time on the approach to the line. this time I was better positioned. absolutely red-lining again, holding on for dear life - when the elastic snapped and once again, someone dropped the wheel ahead of me. I had nothing though - I went around him, but the gap started opening. I finished 11th at +22 secs., and the field had splintered with most losing minutes.

Sunday morning was the crit at Warrnambool cemetery. it's a tough crit with a steep hill. 30 mins. + 2 laps. I love these crits as do a lot of them and was hoping that it would rain. sadly it stayed dry, but my crit experience benefited me as I made up group on the fast corners around more tentative riders. I had a brief dig but the bunch chased and I sat up. I probably should have gone again as I felt strong, but next thing I knew the bell was sounding.

a few people expressed surprise at this - where was the 2 Laps signal? unfortunately I had been caught napping about 20m from the front - too much to make up in 1 lap. overall I had a fun race, mostly due to good legs - despite a litany of small tactical mistakes that cost me seconds here and there. I finished 8th overall at +1.09. when I look at the riders in front of me - I think I can beat them but I know they are solid riders so I'm not too disappointed.
Last edited by jules21 on Mon May 16, 2016 9:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby Cul » Mon May 16, 2016 9:55 am

GC Cats - Criterium
B Grade - 42.8kph avg


I had hoped to be racing my mountain bike over the next few weeks as part of QLD’s Sunshine Series (XCO), alas last weekend I found a crack in my frame which has laid those plans to rest given the 10week lead time for the new frame (it’s custom Ti) which means I will miss the whole Sunshine Series, and also the Bayview Blast XCM event I was hoping to race… Anyways I headed down the coast to try my hand a GC Cat’s Crit at Runaway Bay; my last race here was a reasonable success, and the road race the weekend after was the same but it had been a few weeks since racing and I’ve been a bit fat and lazy so naturally it was going to hurt.

The race got off to a fairly steady start, by no means fast but certainly not slow… Then the usual story played out, ol’ mate goes up the road he dangles, the bunch brings him back…. The pace settles before someone else goes up the road and so on. I was trying my best to stay towards the front but do as little work as possible but I always seemed to find myself on the front when the break was up the road. About 20mins in the bunch ran into some ducks trying to cross the course which near caused a pile up – thankfully everyone was unscathed.

Shortly after a break of about 5 riders inc myself established, we got a gap but it was no more than 50m or so – on such a wide open course if you’re not working together you’ll never get away as was the case here – the break which had a few strong riders, but it was just not working after a lap or two the bunch caught us… after that although fairly strung out the bunch stayed together the remainder of the race resulting in a 40 rider bunch sprint for the finish…

In all it was a fairly uneventful and rather boring race; I am taking a few things away from this though – I can sit of the front close to FTP and string the bunch out all day but struggle to attack; I really need to work on this. Secondly I am doing too much work, I Strava stalked a few after the race my average power is a good 30w higher than say the race winner for instance.

Next week’s race is a road race, 5 laps of an out and back course, with a few short climbs and a some good opportunities to sneak away.
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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby cerb » Mon May 16, 2016 1:29 pm

Well done Jules! The guy who came second is a bit of a beast - I've raced him quite a few times and he's always one to look out for when he goes up the road because he can establish a break and keep the power down for extended periods by himself. Looking at Strava, he certainly sounded pretty peeved by the bell being sounded early in the crit!

P.S. I'll see you in Masters C on the 4th June if you're racing ;)


Cul - It's always a gamble to decide when to chase a break yourself and when to sit in and hope others do it! In the end, someone needs to chase or the break will win every time! Perhaps you just need to be in the break next time instead ... ;)

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby Cul » Mon May 16, 2016 1:58 pm

cerb wrote:Cul - It's always a gamble to decide when to chase a break yourself and when to sit in and hope others do it! In the end, someone needs to chase or the break will win every time! Perhaps you just need to be in the break next time instead ... ;)
True this, what I have found racing up here (or on the Coast at least) is the bunch will always bring the break back before they get too far… I’ve only been in one race where the break got away with the race which was more than 6 months ago – I’ve also found breaks don’t seem gel particularly well; perhaps this is because of the board representation of clubs that cover a huge geographic area turning up to these races (less likely to know each other).

Nerang Crit and Pimpama RR are probably the best for the breakers, because the nature of the course(s) enables you to get out of sight once you establish a bit of a lead… I am thinking SOLO off the front next week 8) :shock: 8)
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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby Alain » Mon May 16, 2016 6:45 pm

jules21 wrote:overall I had a fun race, mostly due to good legs - despite a litany of small tactical mistakes that cost me seconds here and there. I finished 8th overall at +1.09. when I look at the riders in front of me - I think I can beat them but I know they are solid riders so I'm not too disappointed.
Hi Jules! Figured I'd start posting here now:) Well done! I heard there was a bad crash in Masters A, with multiple riders hospitalised. Do you know what happened?

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jules21 » Mon May 16, 2016 8:23 pm

Cul, it's tough when you race a series and can't seem to get a break established. that was the case in Coburg crits I did this season - everything got chased. often there are some tactics in there, with people working for a sprinter mate. or a known strong man who they won't let away in a break. I enjoy it when some strong riding mates turn up who don't usually turn up and I join in with them.

Cerb - thanks. I'm unsure if I'll do the Fred Icke - I'm 50/50 on risking an upgrade to Masters B and sandbagging. I'm not really strong enough for Masters B. the problem is that with some VRS races no one good turns up and bam - you've got 10 points. I'll probably weaken :)

Alain - I don't know what happened. yes, there was a big crash - apparently on the start/finish straight. maybe a sprint prim? there's no obvious reason to crash there. but it was a big one I heard - broken bones, race stopped.

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby Strawburger » Mon May 16, 2016 8:24 pm

Nice work Jules. Save some form for bright though :)
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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jules21 » Mon May 16, 2016 9:01 pm

Strawburger wrote:Nice work Jules. Save some form for bright though :)
I intend to! Although I'll never be a threat to win that. This race though, I think is within the bounds of my physiological capabilities..

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jules21 » Wed May 18, 2016 1:39 pm

a video of Pat Shaw winning Tour of South West A grade crit.

he has help from Avanti teammates - including when Sean Lake attacks and he sits back and his leadout on the final lap. but note how he doesn't try to hold his position on the uphill (the gradient is hard to pick on the video, but it's the section where they're out of the seat and doing >500w) - allows opponents to power past, then keeps the pace on to re-take them on the long downhill section.


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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby cerb » Wed May 18, 2016 2:56 pm

Great video!

Pat Shaw is about 65kg, so the eye opener for me is that he's not dropping below ~7.5W/kg for 30sec up the final hill and spiking to 15W/kg a couple of times in that period.

He then powers off for the corner, before putting down ~12W/kg average for the handful of extra seconds to the line.

Now, I can pull those sorts of numbers, but only when I'm fresh... He's doing it all at the END of a long hard crit!

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jules21 » Wed May 18, 2016 3:50 pm

it's ridiculous. my sprint at the end of a crit like that is about 7-8 W/kg :cry:

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby ft_critical » Wed May 18, 2016 4:28 pm

I have been meaning to mention this on the forum for a while. If you do a search on YouTube for Pat Shaw there is an excellent race report from him on one of the Bay Crits I think. It is one hour of Pat reviewing the race and providing tips as we watch footage (front and back) from his bike. Really worth a watch.

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby cerb » Wed May 18, 2016 4:35 pm

ft_critical wrote:I have been meaning to mention this on the forum for a while. If you do a search on YouTube for Pat Shaw there is an excellent race report from him on one of the Bay Crits I think. It is one hour of Pat reviewing the race and providing tips as we watch footage (front and back) from his bike. Really worth a watch.
Yep, it was a Cycling Maven video from Baycrits this year. Link for the lazy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i3rZXMk1-A

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jules21 » Wed May 18, 2016 4:37 pm

ft_critical wrote:I have been meaning to mention this on the forum for a while. If you do a search on YouTube for Pat Shaw there is an excellent race report from him on one of the Bay Crits I think. It is one hour of Pat reviewing the race and providing tips as we watch footage (front and back) from his bike. Really worth a watch.
yes, that's great. it's on the Cycling Maven channel.

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby Cul » Mon May 30, 2016 2:18 pm

GC Stars Criterium - Arundel
37km - 40.8kph avg



It has been a while since I have posted a report; not through lack of racing but rather lack of time to post anything – the last two races were a bit of a flop anyways after ending up off course after someone pushed wide mid-corner in the last criterium, and getting dropped on midway through the road race last weekend (40.5kph avg was abit too much)… I wasn’t expecting much more this weekend given how little riding I have been doing; probably just enough to maintain fitness but certainly not enough to be making any inroads – or so I thought.

Anyway this week’s Criterium was at Arundel, a fairly open course around an industrial estate not too dissimilar to SKCC, Glenvale, Drake Bvd or GCC’s Ocean Grove for those in Vic; however it does have a little rise in the middle... Racing got off to a pretty quick start with a number of riders giving it some stick in the opening minutes of the race. Admittedly I struggle with this “surging” or constant attacking, so after closing down one of the attacks I figured I’d play my own hand and slip off the front while bunch slowed up – perfect it worked quite well enabling my to establish a decent gap within seconds and I spend the next 10mins off in front until I was caught.

Naturally once I was caught there were a few attacks, I rolled back and just hung on… Fortunately I was very fast through the last corner which saved a bucket load of energy, and would play a big part in bring back a late break later on…. With about 7mins before time a few guys snuck off the front, before long they established a sizable gap as time drew near the bunch just seemed less and less motivated to chase. Not willing to let the race go to waste, I put myself on the front and started driving, I slowly made inroads to the breakers but despite the elbow flicks found few willing to come around, we managed to catch the breakers just before the bell after one last dig… I was struggling to keep breakfast down! :oops:

I slipped back a little on the bell lap, which left me a little too far back for the finale… Nonetheless I was happy with the race and how it panned out; of course hindsight has me thinking about what I could have done. :roll:

Post-race a few riders come up and mentioned how hard I was driving the bunch, particularly in the final few laps; apparently I was putting 4 to 5 bike lengths into the peloton on the last corner of the course making them sprint out of the corner to hold my wheel every lap… :mrgreen:


This weekend has motivated me to ride a bit more; a good race was the kick in the pants I needed I think!
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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jules21 » Mon May 30, 2016 2:56 pm

nice work Cul. if you're away for 10 mins. and still driving the bunch afterwards, you're doing something right..

Preston Mtn Classic, Masters, 70km handicap - off 14 mins.

this is the 2nd PMC I've done. last year my Garmin read as low as -2 deg. so the milder weather yesterday was welcome.

I was late to the line so the comms. made me wait a few seconds and chase on. luckily the bunch didn't give it too much and I caught on, but that was certainly a warmup. my mistake - too much stuffing around with wheel changes, pads, etc.

our bunch of about 23 riders went through the usual handicap re-familiarisation session as some riders sat on, others powering through as they rolled over, leaving everyone else behind. we actually got the routine down pretty quickly and before long, we were working well together.

I settled into doing turns and felt crap - I needed to flush the lactic acid buildup out of my legs. about 17km in we hit Junction Hill - about 3km (AT) 5%. I honestly thought my day was done here as I struggled to hold the group - I could feel my legs were heavy and negative thoughts were creeping in to my head.

before too long - the climb flattened out and I was fine again. after a few rollers we hit the downhill and I was back in my element, resting my chest on the stem and moving back up to the front :)

from about 30km to 68km there aren't any real hills. a few rollers and load of flat roads. unfortunately a lot of group members stopped working and we had a bunch on the front rolling turns, with another sitting just off the back. we had slowed down. we hadn't been caught but neither had we caught our 5 minute group (Limit).

I'm relatively strong on the flat so I kept working and even yelled some encouragement to others. then at about the 55km mark we could see a bunch ahead - I got excited and rallied the troops, but someone else thought they were a women's group. it turned out they were the Limit group, but we didn't know at the time.

there were only a few of us working now - a number of our group had been dropped and others were sitting on. I just don't see the point of sitting on unless you're completely spent, or confident that we're going to contest the win. it certainly wasn't the latter, and for some riders - neither was it the former. pointless tactics - if you ask me.

then my luck ran out - a heard a pop and looked down - the unmistakable rim wobbling that meant I'd broken a spoke. there wasn't far to go so I turned the QR lever upwards and hoped for the best. by now we were almost on the Limit Group and we hit Murchison Gap - a short, sharp 2km climb (AT) 9% and it was on!

immediately I couldn't hold the leaders from my group and I knew I wouldn't be winning today - but I wasn't sure how far down I was. I gave it everything but came in somewhere between 11th and 20th - full results are not up yet - and discovered that my brakes were rubbing. who knows, I might have cracked a top 10?

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jarrodcurrie » Tue May 31, 2016 5:33 pm

Alain wrote:Hi Jules! Figured I'd start posting here now:) Well done! I heard there was a bad crash in Masters A, with multiple riders hospitalised. Do you know what happened?
Long time reader, first time poster. I was one of the guys caught up in the crash in Masters A in the ToSW crit. Somebody near the front of the bunch apparently clipped a bollard that was placed to keep riders away and safe from the leading edge of the barriers placed along the finish line. The bollard then fell over in the path of the guy in front of me and then it was all in at 55kph. Not sure how many of us went down, but there were apparently 6 of us in the Warrnambool hospital that afternoon. I came away with a broken arm, wrist and some other bits and pieces (and a long ambulance trip back to Adelaide), but I think that there were others worse off than us. I hope everyone else pulled up ok, and thanks to the first aiders and others involved in making us comfortable in the aftermath.

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby cerb » Thu Jun 02, 2016 11:06 am

Welcome to no longer just lurking and hopefully a few race reports ;)

The injuries don't sound great, how's the bike? You must be up for 8-10 weeks off the bike for recovery?

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby foo on patrol » Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:53 pm

jarrodcurrie wrote:
Alain wrote:Hi Jules! Figured I'd start posting here now:) Well done! I heard there was a bad crash in Masters A, with multiple riders hospitalised. Do you know what happened?
Long time reader, first time poster. I was one of the guys caught up in the crash in Masters A in the ToSW crit. Somebody near the front of the bunch apparently clipped a bollard that was placed to keep riders away and safe from the leading edge of the barriers placed along the finish line. The bollard then fell over in the path of the guy in front of me and then it was all in at 55kph. Not sure how many of us went down, but there were apparently 6 of us in the Warrnambool hospital that afternoon. I came away with a broken arm, wrist and some other bits and pieces (and a long ambulance trip back to Adelaide), but I think that there were others worse off than us. I hope everyone else pulled up ok, and thanks to the first aiders and others involved in making us comfortable in the aftermath.
:(

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby jules21 » Sat Jun 04, 2016 1:49 pm

sorry to hear that Jarrod. I didn't know the crash was so serious. sounds like the bollards were not ideally positioned.

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Re: Race Report Thread

Postby cerb » Sun Jun 05, 2016 7:14 am

Fred Icke - VRS Scratch Race (Masters C)
91.6km, 36.8kph

Ignoring one I did about 5 years ago when i first started cycling, this was my first real road race.

I managed to maintain my crit racing form pretty well and was pretty fired up for this race. My only unknown/concern was about the length of the race - as I never really ride for longer than 1-1.5h and I've never done more than ~60km at race pace before.

However, I rode the race basically to plan.

It was two laps of a course, with the finishing straight being up a 350m ramp at ~4.5%. The weather was fairly putrid, heavy rain all night and on/off rain continuing throughout the race. On the plus side, it wasn't that cold and there was minimal wind! We also had a massive bunch of nearly 50 riders.

The main climb of the day started basically straight out of town. First time up the climb, I knew it was going to be tough second lap as it pushed my HR up quite a lot, but I managed to come over the top mid bunch. The rest of the lap was then very cruisy - the only battles being done were in fighting for wheels to stay in your preferred position. I just sat mid-bunch and stayed out of the wind waiting for lap 2.

I positioned myself in the top 5 for the start of the climb second time around and when someone pushed the pace as we hit the 7% section, I slipped backwards quickly. I'm currently just about 89kg, so was pushing 420W for about 3min while drifting further and further to the back of the bunch. I ended up cresting the hill perhaps 2nd or 3rd last wheel (but still in contact) and spent the next 2km dangling on the back and trying to recover as my legs started twinging. As soon as I had recovered enough though, I moved back up into better position.

A couple of km later, a guy I had been watching moved up the outside and dropped a couple of gears, so I moved across behind and followed him as he attacked - just to see who was interested in the race at that point. Not a massive effort, but enough to see that the bunch covered it very quickly.

A few km later, one of the 'guys to watch' in the bunch attacked solo for almost the whole 8km stretch of gradual downhill. It was too far out to be of any major concern, but the bunch still never gave him more than 100m. It was quite a show though seeing him off the front for so long at an average speed over 46kph!

Once on the top section of the course, I followed the wheel of a guy I know from crit racing up the bunch as he was positioning himself well, in the top 5 but out of the wind. This put me in perfect position for the short 1.2km climb from the 79.5km mark - starting at the front and slowly drifting to mid bunch. Over the top, I moved back up into the top 6-7 again and held that position through a small township until about the 82km mark.

At this point, it was about 10km to go and people were attacking up the wrong side of the road... pushing me back to about 15th. It was fairly easy to move up on the correct side of the road, but annoyingly, people kept crossing the centre line and darting up the outside... Despite drinking and eating well, I could feel my quads and calves cramping - so I finished my water and tried to ignore it.

Once in the top 5 again, I moved onto the white line and rode 'big' to block people coming over the top unless they wanted to go straight onto the front of the bunch (or go for a break), which ensured I held my position quite nicely. Pace was on now, and my half-plan to attack at 86km mark on a small pinch seemed unlikely to work as we were averaging over 45kph. However, one guy went right at my ideal spot, so I jumped across from 3rd wheel, but we got no real gap - so when he tired, I didn't go over the top and continue driving, I resigned to a bunch sprint.

There were about 20 more attempts at taking a flyer in the last 4-5km, but none of them got more than 20m on the bunch and usually had a gap for no longer than 5-10sec... People seemed to attack for fun - barely making it past me before fading and disappearing to the back of the bunch again... Seemed like a poor tactic to me!! There was always someone rotating to the front willing to chase the rabbits, and I sat in relative comfort about 5th wheel, just maintaining position.

We came into the final 1.5km and I got swamped a bit when about 10 ppl moved up fast on the wrong side of the road. However, I was back to a good position within 300m as my crit positioning skills paid dividends.

With 500m to go, someone pushed hard off the front. Knowing I wouldn't win a 350m uphill bunch kick, I pushed hard and 4 of us got a couple of bike lengths on the rest of the bunch coming into the final hill. The guys in front kicked as soon as we entered the final hill (350m to go), so I had to as well. My legs started cramping immediately, but I tried to power through, briefly getting up to 3rd position with <200m to go. However, 3 guys then went past me at pace as my legs faded and cramped more - so I sat up and nursed my legs over the last ~75 meters, losing a bucket full of positions.

Official position: 28th.


All in all, a good race. I feel that the only reason I didn't do better was that I'm not used to riding for longer than 1.5h or 60km. I know now that if I'm going to do more road racing, I really need to do the ~100km rides frequently so that my legs are used to that duration. Not twice a year as I do now...

Also, this was one of the flattest races of the VRS season. I'd really need to try and get rid of the last 4-5kg excess weight i'm carrying in order to make it easier on myself. When you're 84-85kg at your 'super skinny-est' it's always going to be tough mixing with the little 55-60kg guys in the hills!

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